O'Neal an All-Star Starter?

by Conrad Brunner

January 9, 2003

Indianapolis, January 9, 2003 - Pacers forward Jermaine O'Neal has moved into second place among Eastern Conference forwards based on the most recent All-Star balloting results released by the NBA. The top two vote-getters at each position earn the right to start the Feb. 9 game in Atlanta.

O'Neal is bidding to join Reggie Miller (1995) as the only Pacers players voted into the All-Star starting lineup.

Toronto's Vince Carter leads all Eastern Conference players with 1,023,750 votes. He is followed at the forward position by O'Neal (694,174). Detroit's Ben Wallace leads all Eastern Conference centers with 850,714, followed by New Jersey's Dikembe Mutombo (468,245), while Orlando's Tracy McGrady leads all East guards with 1,016,123 votes, followed by Philadelphia's Allen Iverson (902,754).

Brad Miller ranks fifth among East centers (165,556) while Reggie Miller is eight among guards (125,812).

Kobe Bryant, from the three-time defending NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers and Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets lead all players in the Western Conference.

Bryant leads all players with 1,148,754 votes. Following Bryant at the guard position in the Western Conference is Houston's Steve Francis (778,518). Houston's Yao Ming leads all West centers with 1,015,018 votes, followed by Los Angeles Lakers' Shaquille O'Neal (784,920). San Antonio's Tim Duncan (906,446) and Minnesota's Kevin Garnett (854,811) lead all West forwards.

The fans, through the 2003 NBA All-Star Balloting program, will determine starters for the 2003 NBA All-Star Game, to be played at Philips Arena in Atlanta on Sunday, February 9. The game will be broadcast live on TNT, Rogers Sportsnet, ESPN radio and audio in several languages on NBA.com (http://www.nba.com) at 8 p.m. ET.

Balloting for this year's All-Star Game will continue through January 12 with the announcement of the All-Star starters on Thursday, January 23. After the fan voting is completed and the starters are announced, the head
coaches in each conference will vote to determine the remaining All-Stars in their respective conferences.